Ticket To Stockholm

Some would call it forgiveness:

ONE of the victims of the gang rapes that shocked Sydney is leading a secret double life - with a Muslim boyfriend. The woman known as Miss D, who was raped by the gang led by Bilal Skaf, has fallen in love with a Muslim man - but he and his family do not know her history.

I suspect it's a pathology:

The women in his family, including his mother, have sympathy with the fundamentalist views of Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly about blaming women for inciting rape.

Miss D's mother yesterday said of one emotional occasion at the family's house. She and Miss D were sitting in the loungeroom chatting with the man's mother, who wears a hijab, and his sisters, who wear tight, skimpy Western clothes.

Someone among the Muslim women brought up the subject of the gang rapes. "They don't know who we are but the women in his family said the girls deserved it," Miss D's mother revealed. "My daughter walked out crying of course but they didn't work it out. They didn't see it. She should have just told them but she hasn't."

She was raped by 14 men. The young woman is in a state of denial:

Her mother said Miss D was still unable to discuss the detail of the rape, even with her. "She has never spoken to me about what happened. From that, I can see how much damage was done," said her mother. "It hurts me to see her like that, it breaks my heart."

and her selection of boyfriend stems from her inability to comprehend what happened to her and its motivation.

The poor girl should listen to her boyfriend's mother and sisters and, unkind as it sounds, get a clue.

-- Nick